About the Hotel Del Monte (PDF) - Naval Postgraduate School
About the Hotel Del Monte (PDF) - Naval Postgraduate School
About the Hotel Del Monte (PDF) - Naval Postgraduate School
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•<br />
• •<br />
CALIFORNIA’S<br />
MOST HISTORIC RESORT<br />
<strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong><br />
•<br />
•<br />
•
The Making of a Legend<br />
••••••••••••••••••••••••••<br />
In its prime, <strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> was<br />
a 20,000-acre resort complex with extensive<br />
botanical gardens and sports<br />
facilities. It was <strong>the</strong> forerunner of today’s<br />
Pebble Beach Company and <strong>the</strong><br />
catalyst for <strong>Monte</strong>rey’s modern-day<br />
tourism industry.<br />
<strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> offered <strong>the</strong> finest cuisine<br />
and recreational activities included<br />
golfing, tennis, swimming, polo, racing,<br />
yachting, deep sea fishing and horseback<br />
riding.<br />
Guests included American presidents<br />
and world leaders, industrialists and business<br />
executives, famous artists and poets,<br />
film stars and o<strong>the</strong>r notables.<br />
The hotel’s influence on its surrounding<br />
community and <strong>the</strong> international influence<br />
of <strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> guests forever<br />
changed <strong>the</strong> <strong>Monte</strong>rey Peninsula.<br />
This booklet provides an introduction to<br />
<strong>the</strong> <strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> and its remarkable<br />
history. On <strong>the</strong> cover: Artist view of <strong>Hotel</strong><br />
<strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> and grounds, 1926.<br />
The main entrance of <strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> was <strong>the</strong> beginning and ending point for <strong>the</strong> original<br />
17-Mile Drive.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••<br />
Railroad pioneer Charles Crocker (with cane) built <strong>the</strong> original <strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong><br />
<strong>Monte</strong> and shaped its world reputation.<br />
The original <strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> was<br />
opened in 1880 and built by railroad pioneer<br />
Charles Crocker. Despite its relative<br />
isolation in <strong>the</strong> West, <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> was instantly<br />
popular and <strong>the</strong> hotel had to turn<br />
down 3,000 requests for accommodations<br />
in <strong>the</strong> first six weeks of operation.<br />
The hotel was often billed as “The Most<br />
Elegant Seaside Resort in <strong>the</strong> World”<br />
and “California’s Largest and Best Loved<br />
Resort.” <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> landholdings included<br />
a 7,000-acre parcel section called <strong>the</strong> <strong>Hotel</strong><br />
<strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> Park Reservation.<br />
The hotel’s park reservation is today’s<br />
world-renowned Pebble Beach resort.<br />
Charles Crocker created <strong>the</strong> original 17-<br />
Mile Drive as a local excursion from <strong>Hotel</strong><br />
<strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> to <strong>the</strong> park reservation with visits<br />
to historic and scenic sites in <strong>Monte</strong>rey and<br />
Pacific Grove along <strong>the</strong> way.
<strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong><br />
```^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^<br />
By 1915, <strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> and its parent<br />
corporation, <strong>the</strong> Pacific Improvement<br />
Company, had fallen on hard economic<br />
times. The PI Company hired Samuel F.<br />
B. Morse, <strong>the</strong>n 30 years old and a former<br />
All-American quarterback who led Yale<br />
University to championship seasons and<br />
national fame, to serve as a liquidator and<br />
find buyers for several railroad properties,<br />
including <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong>.<br />
Despite financial obstacles, Morse<br />
initiated several innovative programs<br />
to improve <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> – including <strong>the</strong><br />
development of <strong>the</strong> Pebble Beach golf<br />
course. He later offered to buy <strong>Del</strong><br />
<strong>Monte</strong> himself and with backing from<br />
San Francisco banker Herbert Fleishhacker<br />
formed <strong>the</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> Properties<br />
Company in 1919, acquiring <strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong><br />
<strong>Monte</strong>, <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> Lodge (Pebble Beach<br />
Lodge) and <strong>the</strong> 20,000-acre resort complex.<br />
According to hotel literature, it was<br />
“<strong>the</strong> largest resort plant of its kind in<br />
<strong>the</strong> world.”<br />
A vibrant and athletic man, Morse<br />
quickly began to develop a philosophy<br />
of <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> as a “sports empire.” He<br />
built more golf courses – Cypress Point<br />
and <strong>Monte</strong>rey Peninsula Country Club –<br />
to go along with <strong>the</strong> auto and horse race<br />
track, polo fields, tennis courts, swimming,<br />
yachting and deep sea fishing. His<br />
success brought him widespread recognition<br />
as one of America’s leading business<br />
executives and a major profile of Morse in<br />
a 1940 issue of Fortune magazine noted<br />
that “Morse’s associates claim that he can<br />
out imagine anyone in <strong>the</strong> U.S.”
Sports Empire<br />
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
••••••••••••••••••••••••••<br />
There have been three <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> hotel<br />
buildings. The first two hotels were<br />
wooden Gothic structures designed by<br />
Arthur Brown, Sr., an architect of <strong>the</strong><br />
Sou<strong>the</strong>rn Pacific Railroad, and built by<br />
SPRR workmen.<br />
The first hotel opened in June 1880<br />
and was destroyed completely by fire<br />
in March 1887. The second hotel was<br />
built with <strong>the</strong> same basic plan of <strong>the</strong><br />
original but was enlarged through <strong>the</strong><br />
addition of two long, linear wings extending<br />
toward <strong>the</strong> beach. The hotel<br />
was reopened partially in December<br />
1887 and began full operation of <strong>the</strong><br />
new resort in June 1888.<br />
Architecture<br />
A second devastating fire occurred in<br />
1924. Firefighters dynamited <strong>the</strong> main<br />
section of <strong>the</strong> hotel to prevent <strong>the</strong> blaze<br />
from spreading to <strong>the</strong> wings. A new Spanish-style<br />
architectural design was drawn<br />
up by Lewis P. Hobart and Clarence A.<br />
Tantau, noted San Francisco architects.<br />
Built of reinforced concrete, it was constructed<br />
between 1924 and 1926.<br />
The Victorian-era wings were renovated by<br />
adding an exterior stucco skin and a tile roof<br />
to make <strong>the</strong>m architecturally compatible with<br />
<strong>the</strong> new Mediterranean design. These wings<br />
were recently renovated by <strong>the</strong> Navy and received<br />
recognition from <strong>the</strong> President’s Advisory<br />
Council on Historic Preservation.<br />
The Victorian-style <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> built by<br />
Charles Crocker gave way to Spanishrevival<br />
architecture following a 1924 fire.
Notable Guests<br />
••••••••••••••••••••••••••<br />
Aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh (center) poses for a photo with <strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong><br />
clients and staff.<br />
President Theodore Roosevelt visited<br />
<strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> in May 1903. To his<br />
daughter E<strong>the</strong>l, age 12, he wrote: “This<br />
is a beautiful hotel...with gardens and<br />
a long seventeen-mile drive beside <strong>the</strong><br />
beach and <strong>the</strong> rocks and among <strong>the</strong><br />
pines and cypresses. I went on horseback.<br />
My horse was a little beauty, spirited,<br />
swift, sure-footed and enduring.<br />
As is usually <strong>the</strong> case here <strong>the</strong>y had a<br />
great deal of silver on <strong>the</strong> bridle and<br />
headstall, and much carving on <strong>the</strong><br />
saddle. We had some splendid gallops.”<br />
Roosevelt’s companions for <strong>the</strong><br />
ride along <strong>the</strong> 17-Mile Drive were <strong>the</strong><br />
mayor of <strong>Monte</strong>rey, <strong>the</strong> president of <strong>the</strong><br />
University of California, and <strong>the</strong> commander<br />
of <strong>the</strong> 15th Infantry Regiment,<br />
<strong>Monte</strong>rey Presidio.<br />
In <strong>the</strong> midst of <strong>the</strong> Jazz Age and <strong>the</strong><br />
Roaring Twenties, <strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> captured<br />
<strong>the</strong> imagination of a nation on <strong>the</strong><br />
move and a society undergoing rapid<br />
change. Screen legends such as Mary Pickford,<br />
Charlie Chaplin, Bob Hope, Bing<br />
Crosby, Ginger Rogers, Jimmy Gleason,<br />
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Jean Harlow, Carole<br />
Lombard, Clark Gable, William Powell,<br />
and Marlene Dietrich were frequent guests.<br />
O<strong>the</strong>r guests included Eleanor Roosevelt,<br />
Walt Disney, <strong>the</strong> Duke of Kent, aviation<br />
pioneers Amelia Earhart and Charles<br />
Lindbergh, artist Salvador Dali, cartoonist<br />
Rube Goldberg, Robert Ripley (of Ripley’s<br />
Believe It or Not! fame), heiress Gloria<br />
Vanderbilt, violinists Jascha Heifetz and<br />
Yehudi Menuhin, and authors Zane Grey,<br />
Ernest Hemingway, and Fannie Hurst.
The <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> Legacy<br />
••••••••••••••••••••••••••<br />
<strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> has been through<br />
many changes caused by fires, earthquakes,<br />
wars and downturns in <strong>the</strong><br />
nation’s economy. But <strong>the</strong> vision and<br />
philosophies of Charles Crocker and<br />
Sam Morse endure through <strong>the</strong> elegant<br />
architecture of today’s Herrmann Hall<br />
and stately grounds that surround <strong>the</strong><br />
once famous hotel.<br />
While Crocker deserves <strong>the</strong> credit<br />
for developing <strong>the</strong> original <strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong><br />
<strong>Monte</strong> and assembling <strong>the</strong> 20,000-acre<br />
complex, it is Morse who deserves <strong>the</strong><br />
recognition for original thinking that<br />
transformed and reinvigorated an aging<br />
<strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong>.<br />
Bing Crosby said, “I shall always be<br />
grateful to that eminent sportsman Sam<br />
Morse, <strong>the</strong> man whose vision, dedica-<br />
tion and devotion to quality made this<br />
one of <strong>the</strong> showplaces of <strong>the</strong> world.<br />
Without him...it would all be Coney<br />
Island.”<br />
At <strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong>, Sam Morse created<br />
an indelible legacy of art, architecture,<br />
and environment that helped to<br />
preserve <strong>the</strong> region’s dynamic history<br />
and culture even as it redefined <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>Monte</strong>rey Peninsula.<br />
After he sold <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong> to <strong>the</strong> Navy,<br />
Morse concentrated his business operations<br />
at Pebble Beach. The hotel now<br />
serves as <strong>the</strong> administrative building for<br />
<strong>the</strong> <strong>Naval</strong> <strong>Postgraduate</strong> <strong>School</strong> (www.<br />
nps.edu). In 2009 NPS will celebrate<br />
its centennial, a history interwoven for<br />
more than half a century with <strong>the</strong> magic<br />
of <strong>Del</strong> <strong>Monte</strong>.<br />
The original 17-Mile Drive was a scenic and cultural tour developed for <strong>Hotel</strong> <strong>Del</strong><br />
<strong>Monte</strong> guests. The Lone Cypress was <strong>the</strong> midway point along that original drive.